December 25th - Christmas!

Christmas morning started at about 8:00 for us with the pitter patter of Brody's feet on the floor above us realizing we had "locked" him in his room. I hear "Mommy...are you coming??" I got a quick start on breakfast before we got the kids up, so on my way up the stairs I hear again "Mommy, are you coming?" I reply yes, to which he asks again, "are you coming?" This is an almost daily ritual for us - so I think it is a joke for him to ask again and again. At first he was bugged that I wanted him to go down stairs (he wanted to play in the play room instead) after reminding him that Santa had come he was a little more enthusiastic about going down stairs. We got Ella ready and headed down together, stopping for a traditional picture on the stairs.

Brody saw his train table from Santa first - so then he insisted he must find the trains. We were able to get him to open his Santa presents before breakfast and gave him some time to play with the trains before moving on. After breakfast we finished opening - and we've been playing ever since! I will let the pictures tell the rest...for our family not with us today we hope you enjoy the videos! We videoed the kids opening a few gifts from out of towners. Now that I learned how to do it with our camera I will try to do more video often...so stay tuned!

For Aunt Marilyn:

For Aunt Stephie:


For Aunt Amy:


For Aunt Stephie again:

December 24th - Christmas Eve!

Above is the before photo...we had lasagne for dinner which resulted in a bath for the kids...thus they are opening presents in their diaper and underwear.

After...both dressed in cozy Christmas jammies (a family Christmas Eve tradition) - both are being a bit uncooperative, but hey Santa's sleigh is already packed right? No need to be good longer than necessary.

We had a quiet and productive day at home. We ran a few errands for our trip and then cleaned and got the laundry done. We had the traditional lasagne for dinner and now we are anxiously awaiting the time we can put the kids to bed so they can wake up tomorrow! Honestly, Brandon and I are both probably more excited about it than they are!

For now, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

California Here We Come!

Brody testing out the headphones for the DVD player on the plane. We should have NO problem keeping him entertained!

Now this one...she is going to give us a run for our money! Im not sure how to keep her entertained. Lots of snacks I guess! Dont you love her chin and cheeks - they make her neck look so skinny.

December 23rd - Christmas Lights

Tonight we loaded the kids up again and stopped by Starbucks to get a Hot Apple Cider and a Steamed Milk with mint and went and looked at Christmas lights again. Our first stop was a house in Frisco. The owner designed the lights for the town square too, so it was a really fun display. He had some FAQ's on a poster in his front yard too. There is 65,000 lights, 4.4 miles of lights and wiring, and the additional cost on his electric bill is $55! I couldn't believe it - I told Brandon it would totally be fun to deck out our house in lights if it only cost that much in electricity. I thought it would be a bundle!

A much more enthusiastic Brody than last time!

Then we went to Prosper, Texas and went to Dieon Sanders house. We expected it to have more lights than it did, but it was still very pretty. I tried to take a picture but it was too dark - so I won't waste the time.

Then we went back to our favorite house from the other night. It was I think our favorite tonight too. The three neighbors did a GREAT job. The video in the upstairs window is just really cool & tonight Santa Claus himself was outside waving to all the people watching. Brody told us there was two Santas. It was really cute. We took some video - but this is my first time uploading video so I hope it works. Just ignore Brody in the background saying he wants to get out of the car.

December 22nd - Snowman Day!

Today we made a snowman family out of construction paper, pipe cleaners and cotton. I must admit how difficult this project was for me (the mom) because I HATE cotton. Can't stand to touch it. I can wear it, but I can't bear to touch cotton balls. I have learned to tolerate q-tips (thanks to the the cardboard stick). Don't ask me why - I don't know. I think some of it has to do with dentists over the years telling me to bite on those cotton things in your mouth. Yuck!

Brody did catch on quick and had a blast making this little family. He even wanted to keep going claiming we needed a "Ma-Maw and Pa-paw" aka Grandma and Grandpa.

Daddy & Mommy

Brody & Ella

We stayed home all day getting ready for our trip - the kids and gifts are packed into only a part of one suitcase! Hooray! Brandon brought home a collapsable duffle bag that we are packing to have room to bring home a third checked bag. I wish American Airlines would drop the bag fee now that gas has gone down. I won't hold my breath though. A few more days and we are all getting pretty excited!

We had a Christmas Miracle happen today! Our builder who for months has been ignoring my nagging phone calls and nasty messages did something! They didn't actually call me back - BUT they arranged for a heating person to come fix our heater - tomorrow. With it getting even colder lately the babies are waking up with blue lips - and that is no good! We turned up the temp, but it still didn't help. The unit is working, but no warm air is blowing out of the vents - and they are open (we made sure to check that!) So I will HAPPILY make myself available between 1 and 5 tomorrow for someone to come fix it.

December 21st - Merry Christmas Charlie Brown!!

Sunday's are not always easy days for our family - so I was pretty excited about how today went so smoothly. We were only 10 minutes late for church (but still in time for the Sacrament!), and I already had dinner made in the crockpot when we came home. The kids were good at church, Brody has had no accidents lately, Ella FELL ASLEEP at church...wahoo! It was a GREAT day for us!

After dinner we made some brownies, snuggled on the couch and watched what I think is the best Christmas cartoon movie ever - Merry Christmas Charlie Brown. I love it! I love when Linus recites the scriptures telling Charlie Brown why we celebrate Christmas. It makes me happy that there is a movie out there that isn't so commercialized. I think our family is "winding down" and settling in for the holidays. We are trying to stay warm and just spend lots of time together. It will be my first Christmas ever just being at home with our family and not with all the extended family travelling from house to house for different parties. I haven't been real sad about it though - I think I am too excited about seeing Brody's face on Christmas morning. Christmas is so much more fun with kids! We are so excited though to go see family in California on the 26th!

December 20th - Live Nativity

A big BUST...details tomorrow.

Here are the details...we fed the kids an early dinner and dressed them warm to go out to this Live Nativity that I had seen in the Denton City Calendar. I had in my mind pictured "Follow the Star" (the Live Nativity put on by our church in California) it was bright, well lit, with lots of people. We got the directions and started driving. The park where it was being held was in an area we weren't familiar with. So we drove there and after a little bit of searching we saw about ten people standing in a dark parking lot with Mary and Joseph huddled in the manger. No animals. Just people staring at people. I was so dissapointed. By this time the kids had both fallen asleep in the car, so I just couldn't picture us as the only audience with two screaming kids. We drove on by, and then because the kids had fallen asleep I needed to find something for them to do so that we could get them worn out enough again to go to bed.

We ended up at the Golden Triangle Mall in Denton. I have never been there before, although some friends of ours affectionately call it the Ghetto Mall. We walked around for a little while and ended up at Barnes and Nobles to look at the books and read to the kids for a little while. FYI - all those parents out there with train lovers beware...they have a train table in the kids section. We let Brody play there for a while, and I was VERY impressed with how well he was sharing with the other kids. But, another little girl was being mean and not sharing and taking the trains away from Brody. (You can see where this is going, right?) I saw where it was going - it was going to lead to Brody doing something naughty to get a train back - so we tried to cut it off. Brandon picked him up and we decided it was time to go. Brody screamed and screamed and screamed. It was horrible. I drug him thru the mall, past Santa (which provided no distraction), out in the freezing parking lot back to the car - all the while he was screaming. It didn't end up well, but while we were at the bookstore we did buy a Super Why Christmas book. I saw on another friends blog that they have a tradition of getting one new Christmas book each year. I thought that was pretty cool, so we decided that we would do that too. So our live nativity night was a big bust, but what do you do?

December 19th - The Grinch who Stole Christmas

We swung by our Fake In and Out for a quick bite to eat tonight before dropping my parents off at the airport. Look out California - here come Grandma and Grandpa Mullin! Traffic was bad and we were concerned for a few minutes that there might be a lot of holiday comings and goings and the airports, but it turned out that there was not a whole lot of people checking in - just driving weird to get to the terminals. The traffic cops that were parked but doing nothing didn't help the problem. Either way - they are on their way.

We are getting a late start on our holiday activity tonight, so we will be watching the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. He liked the cartoon, we'll see how they like the "real" movie. In other news...Ella is officially OFF of formula. She has had her first taste of cows milk and it is going well. No rashes or other side effects. Hooray for no more buying formula or mixing or washing bottles! I have to say it is a chore I dont like at all!

An Evening Activity

We went to tithing settlement tonight at 7:30. We had the kids pajamas on before we left for a quick turn around time when we got home to get them in bed. When we left the church Brody said, "where are we going now" I said that it was dark and quiet out and that we were going to go home. He in response cried (of course). I asked him what he wanted to do if he didn't want to go home. His response to me was this: "I want to go to the other side of the world and find the sun."

Nothing gets past this kid!

December 18th - Gingerbread Houses

Today was Gingerbread story time at the library, but we were late. I thought that there was another session at 11:00 so I waited around, checked out some books, sat in the story time room, read to Brody and then it occurred to me the leader of story time came in, gave me a weird look, and then took all the equipment and walked out. I thought it was strange that at 10:45 there was no one there for the 11:00 story time. Alas, it was because there was no 11:00 story time. Oops.

Plan #2 - Instead we made a gingerbread house out of graham crackers. Nothing fancy, just left over frosting from the cookies and some candy from Walmart. It was a fun little project for Brody, although I think he had more fun making up stories about the gummy bears. That is one trait I have seen him develop lately - his ability to do make believe play. It is really a crack up to hear what kind of stories he comes up with.

In this scene, the gummy bears are surrounding another little gummy bear in the middle (it is clear so you can't see it too well) but the little bear in the middle is Ella and she is crying because she has no toys. All the other bears are trying to make her happy by giving her toys.

Our finished Gingerbread House!

Ice Storm

Until today I hadn't stepped out of my house - not even to get the mail - since Monday, and even then it was only in the car to Shannon's house and then home again. On Sunday we had our air conditioner on - the weather was in the mid 70's. The very next morning it was 22 degrees. Monday night Brandon and I went out on the driveway and slid down it in our shoes because it was all iced over. It stayed in the 20's Monday and Tuesday and then today it was up to 42. We are headed back towards the 70's at the end of the week - for I think a day and then it drops again. The weirdest thing. I've lived in cold weather, but this is so different from Utah. I am not complaining though - it could be worse. I could be living in Fargo, North Dakota where it is always in the negatives. Sorry Kyle and Meagan - I have been thinking of how you are coping with a toddler indoors for months. Good luck!

December 17th - Frosty the Snowman & Deliveries

Today was another easy day as far as our Christmas activities go. I had planned other things to do, but we'll do them another day because I just didn't feel like it today. We did watch Frosty the Snowman and tonight we packaged up the sugar cookies and delivered them to some neighbors and home teaching families. Poor Brandon, I looked up addresses and thought I knew where I was going but 2 out of the 3 houses were wrong! We got these poor people excited about cookies and then didn't even give them to them. Oh well. It was funny though! Then we headed down to Sears to pick up the freezer that we bought for my mom and dad for Christmas. It was great! I bought it online, waited for my email, went to the store, scanned my barcode and they brought it out to my car. Wonderful service! We took it to Grandma and Grandpa, let the kids stay up late again playing and then came home and put them in bed.

Sugar Cookie Recipe

1 c. parkay
2 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. sour cream w/ 1 tsp. soda (dissolved in it)
4.5 c. flour (I use 5 c. because it is a really soft dough)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

Sift together flour, baking powder & salt - set aside. Cream margarine & sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla. Add sour cream with the baking soda. Add dry ingredients. Chill over night (I separate into halves and flatten as much a possible to chill) Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes

December 16th - Sugar Cookies

This is not one of my favorite Christmas activities but I do it because I love eating them, and it is Brandon's favorite Christmas treat. I must say though, a few years ago I was given a new recipe and it has really changed my view of sugar cookies. I could never before make them soft - they always were crunchy and it wasn't because they were burned. Anyway, I love the recipe the only down side is it makes a TON of cookies. We frosted after dinner tonight and I think Brody did 3 before we had to cut him off. It is funny to see him sneak licks and tastes along the way though.

There was 99 cookies from this one batch of the dough cut into Christmas trees, snowmen, stars, candy canes and bells. It is a lot of work - but I like the way they turn out every time! (I'm a freak about frosting and the cookies have to be the appropriate color - I am even a little disappointed that we didn't do more with our snowmen, but we did those last and we had sort of lost our steam -- I try not to inhibit creativity, but I draw the line at yellow colored Christmas trees and purple snowmen. I just can't handle it)

December 15th - Handprint Wreaths

Brandon thought I was nuts for wanting to use paint - but I think it turned out okay without too much mess. I used green glitter paint and painted on the kids hands and then put their handprints around some green construction paper I made to look like a wreath. Cute keepsake to remember how little their hands were this Christmas. Brody got a kick out of it and used all his energy to stay patient while we did Ella's first. I let him dip his finger in red glitter paint to put some berries on the wreaths after we did the hand prints.There aren't any pictures of the finished product yet - partly because they were wet, but mostly because shortly after this last picture was taken we discovered somewhere along the way Brody had gone #2 in his underwear. So, this led to clean up, a bath and then a mommy ready for the kidos to be in bed. It wasn't all bad though - at least he didn't pee on my bed again (he did that last night while my parents and I were in the other room eating dessert...I guess it was my punishment for not offering him any!) The night did have an upside - we decided to throw in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and I got to have Brody cuddle with me and fall asleep on me. It was nice, it probably hasn't happened in well over a year. I was due for a moment like that.

Just a note in Brody's defense - he has done much better with potty training. We are in no way saying he is completely potty trained, BUT - until yesterday he hadn't had an accident in almost 2 weeks (with the exception of Thursday night...this is funny...I went to our wards Relief Society Christmas Enrichment and Brandon watched the kids and put them to bed. Friday morning I went in to get Brody and his lips were blue and his room was freezing. I didn't know what was going on, we had the heater turned up and he had blankets over him. Well, I sat on his bed and I noticed it was wet - he looks at me and says, "Did I pee?" Umm, yeah he had. I couldn't understand why he would have leaked so bad because we still put diapers on him at night. I found the answer real quick - no diaper. Daddy had forgot to put a diaper on him in all the chaos of getting the kids to bed. Poor kid had slept in pee sheets all night. Gross huh? Three loads of wash later - he is once again sleeping in a warm bed. I doubt Brandon will forget again!

December 14th - Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa

Tonight we celebrated Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Mullin because they'll be away on Christmas Day. We had a nice dinner and yummy treats and we all exchanged gifts. It was the first time this season there has been any unwrapping - so it was fun to see Brody get excited.

Ella got the 2008 set of coins from each of the mints. And...her very first buggy. I love that word - that is what people here call grocery carts. Funny huh?
She probably would have been just as happy with just the boxes - but we are looking forward to many walks around the neighborhood in her girly pink buggy!

Brody got the Fisher Price Smart Cycle. OK! The best toy ever! He is still learning to use it, but it will help him with pedaling and coordination. He rides the bike while the game shows up on TV. Grandparents think of everything - a toy that is entertaining and gets his energy out! Wa hoo! Perfect for the next few months of cold weather!
Brandon got this wall hanging - pretty neat. It is custom made of iron. The Texas Star is hugely popular here and we are probably one of the few families who don't have it displayed somehow. So now we will proudly hang our Texas Star on the wall of our play room. It might move someday if we ever get to build the backyard of our dreams - but for now I want it where I can see it. We are thinking we'll go with a red/white/blue texas themed playroom when we go to decorate - so it will fit in perfect. We love it!

Last but certainly not least...we gave Grandma and Grandpa their Christmas gift from us, Amy and Will, and Stephanie. They will be having delivered on December 17th (hopefully!) a brand new freezer! We are so excited about this because they have been trying to survive with the smallest freezer. Now they can go to Costco and actually shop!

AHHH! When I posted this last night I forgot to mention what I got - I woke up this morning and thought of it so I have to add...my present was a really cool brownie pan that makes every piece of brownie with an edge. I love the edges of brownies! Mom and Dad surprised me by bringing a pan of brownies they had made in their edge pan so I could taste them - so yummy! I am already trying to think of other things I can make into all edges.

It was a very fun night of laughing and relaxing and eating. Christmas may only come once a year - but we like to stretch it out in our family! So fun.

December 13th - Ward Christmas Party

All Aboard! We rode the Polar Express tonight at our ward Christmas party. It was so cute! There were 4 long rows of tables each representing a different train. We all ate and then the trains left the station. We went to Santa's workshop where the kids could all make there own gift tags.
This is Brody with two of his best buds, Grant & Ashlyn, coloring their tags. While Brody colored Ella played with one of her little girl friends, Alexis. These two are just two weeks apart and are so cute together. They give each other those little open mouthed kisses that are so sweet.

After Santa's workshop we went and toured Mexico, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Italy. We learned about the different holiday traditions celebrated there (but mostly we tried to keep our kids from being too disruptive) After it was all over we were on our way out and we realized Santa had made a special stop to say hi to the kids and give them all "I Believe" bells.This was a tough evening for Brody. He liked it, but he kept asking when we were going to ride the Polar Express. We had told him all about it before we got there, and it happens to be his favorite movie right now, so he was all psyched up for a train ride. How do you tell him it is just pretend? We tried and we failed. We had to give in and now he is still up in the other room watching the movie. We are suckers.Ella's favorite part was the bell. She loves it. We are liking it too, because now we can tell where she is in the house and whether or not we need to move fast to get her out of trouble!

The Messiest Eater

December 12th - Christmas in the Square

Tonight we took the kids to Frisco Town Square to celebrate "Christmas in the Square" In Frisco all the city buildings are together in an old-fashioned type main street set up. The library and city hall share a huge building at the end of the street and there is a big fountain in the front. Well, some guy decked out the whole street in lights, even creating a faux ceiling of lights and then set it all to music. Snow machines topped it off by blowing snow on the cars that passed by below. There was a cute little train ride and a display of model trains that Brody loved. Starbucks handed out hot chocolate and there was inflatables that we had to pull Brody from crying at the end of the night. Brody is driving us crazy lately with incessant screaming when things don't go his way. He truly behaves as though we have beaten him or deprived him of food and water. He does this every time we leave the house because he just wants to play - and then he repeats it whenever I make him leave where ever it was that he didn't want to go to in the first place (stores, friends houses, church, parks, etc. - he doesn't discriminate) Anyhow, we are trying to learn patience and how to deal with him - so far not much of anything works...so if this happens when we are visiting with any of you, I apologize in advance. BUT, even though it was a chilly and at times very loud night, it was worth the effort to take the kids out.

Daddy and Brody sharing some hot chocolate in line for the trainEllas thoughts: "My parents kept me up late for this?" (Notice the red rash on her face...we think she has inherited my skin, poor thing. We think it is from the cold weather - we've started smearing her with aquaphor, so hopefully it works!)

Brody having a good time in the bounce house before we ruin his night and make him come out for us to go home.

December 11th - Santa Storytime

The Denton library had a Santa Storytime today. Santa made a special trip down here to read to the kids and sing songs. It was SO CUTE! They were all given jingle bells when they walked in and they could jingle them while we sang. Afterwards, Santa stayed for the mommies to have a chance to take a picture. Ella was less than thrilled about her mom putting her on some strange man's lap for a photo and cried this time. It wasn't too bad though - not full fledged screaming just whimpering and tears.

December 10th - Christmas Lights

It was an easy day for me (as far as the Christmas activity goes anyway)! We had dinner, changed the kids into jammies and put them in the car to look at the lights. Ella was into it, Brody was for a while - but because he didn't nap today it just put him to sleep. Our favorite was three neighboors in Providence who have the lights all choreographed to music and movies. It is so cute - in one of the upstairs windows there is a big movie screen showing the clips of movies and sometimes you even get a glimpse of Santa!

Ella being entertained by the flashing lights while her brother sleeps through it all!

December 9th - Super Letter Garland

Any Super Why fans out there? Well...Brody is a big one. I thought he'd be into this project, but he wasn't. I don't know if it was worth doing or not...maybe it was just that he was really ornery today. Who knows. None the less, I probably won't repeat this one next year.

Safety Town!

This morning we went with our friends the Stephensons to go see Safety Town in Frisco. They teach mostly elementary aged kids about how to be safe --- a good lesson for Brody! They have the cutest little town that is small and the kids can explore and see all the buildings. They also had a fire truck that they could climb all over. So fun!

Little Mini-FriscoGood Buds Cayden, Cami & BrodyMiss Ella playing with the fire engine's bellLove the hat Brody!

December 8th - Candy Cane Reindeer

Brody helping Daddy pick out a nose

Our quality control engineerOur antler-making Ella
The best reindeer making Daddy ever!Look at those ears!Ta-Da...the finished product